Last week’s curation at RealClear’s American Civics portal focused on the launch of the Jack Miller Center’s new digital primary source library, ContextUS. As JMC President Hans Zeiger writes at RealClearHistory, this state-of-the-art resource offers teachers, students, and parents “a free, user-friendly online library and research tool of the American political tradition.” In order to meet the needs of younger generations who are “immersed in technology,” this platform allows them “to engage with the nation’s founding documents and core texts by showing the connections and relationships between them, allowing users to uncover historical contexts throughout time.” He continues, “We incorporated interactive features that enable users to place texts side-by-side, add their own annotations, create study guides, and add external videos or images.” Visitors to the library can read James Madison’s notes on the Constitutional Convention, Jefferson’s draft of the Declaration of Independence, where he calls slavery a “cruel war against human nature itself, violating it’s most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him,” and a personal letter where Abigail Adams warns her husband John Adams to not to “put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands,” cautioning that women will not be “bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.” Additionally, as Civics portal editor Mike Sabo reports at RealClearEducation, this library “gives teachers the ability to create and share lesson plans and use its sizable collection of resources during classroom teaching and discussion.” It also allows scholars the ability to “build research outlines and do intensive topical research across the entire range of documents in the collection” and students the opportunity to “engage with the minds of the greatest statesmen and thinkers of the Western tradition as they explore primary sources.” “The end goal of the ContextUS library,” Sabo writes “is to ensure that the American idea remains alive in the hearts and minds of citizens.” Through its myriad resources, the library “invites new users to engage with this rich textual tradition,” Zeiger says, “and establish thousands of links between texts to tell the story of America.” Essential Reading Hans Zeiger, RealClearHistory The field of American history is in crisis. Earlier this month, the Department of Education released troubling... Mike Sabo, RealClearEducation Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who means to be their own governors must arm... In the News S. Adam Seagrave, Public Discourse Kirk Swearingen, Salon Frank Smith, Hartford Courant Carl Smith, Governing David Lewis Schaefer, American Mind No Labels, RealClearPolicy Paul G. Summers, Tennessean Kevin Frazier, Fulcrum Natasha Chen, CNN Joerg Knipprath, Constituting America Elliott Drago & Jonathan White, Jack Miller Center Hyrum Lewis, Heterodox Academy Kevin Garcia-Galindo, Carolina Journal Carl Smith, Governing Chris Burkett, Constituting America PragerU Is Millard Fillmore, the 13th President of the United States, the least significant of all the commanders... Hudson Institute Some say the American Founders pursued a radical separation of religion and politics but has the Bible... PBS This special tribute to the brave soldiers who gave their lives for our country. It comes from... Carl Cannon's Great American Stories During one November night during World War II, when classical music occupied a more central place in American culture, the ... Friday is the day of the week when I pass along a quotation meant to be elucidating or inspiring. Today's ... It's Tuesday, May 23, 2023. On this date in 1910, Robert and Maude Brown, transplanted Missourians living in an upscale ... |